Think Pair Share Technique

Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative learning technique, involving individual, pairs, and groups of students. The basic steps are simple. They include:

Give students a question to reflect on or task to do individually. Provide plenty of time for them to work on their own.
Ask students to pair up with just one other person. Each person will describe what they worked on individually to their partner.
Allow students to revise their own ideas or work based on the discussion with the partner.
Ask students to come back into a large group. Have volunteers discuss what they did in pairs and, perhaps, how the pair d iscussion changed their thinking

Think-Pair-Share is a useful technique in situations where the question or task requires a good deal of reflection since it allows students to think about the issue from multiple perspectives. It is also useful when working with students who may be shy about speaking up in a large group. Working in pairs allows them to express their “voice” and rehearse what they want to say in a less threatening, paired situation. In some instances it may also be useful to pair students at different literacy or English language levels.